SANTA BARBARA – Yuta Tabuse got a taste last season. Now he wants to stick. But the diminutive guard, who became the first Japanese-born player to make it in the NBA, realizes that he has a difficult task.

“It’s tough to make it in the NBA, especially at point guard, because there are so many good ones,” Tabuse said. “But that’s why I’m trying to make it.”

Tabuse’s goal is to make it as a free agent with the Clippers. He achieved history last season when he made Phoenix’s opening-night roster.

Tabuse, 25, played in four games with the Suns but was waived a month into the season. He then joined the Long Beach Jam of the ABA, where he averaged 8.9 points and 7.1 assists in 14 games.

“This is the best training camp that I’ve been to,” Tabuse said. “I enjoy playing with all of these guys.”

Listed at 5-foot-9, Tabuse’s style is similar to that of Denver’s 5-5 Earl Boykins, who has evolved into the NBA’s best change-of-pace guard. But it took several NBA stops, including one with the Clippers, before Boykins became established. Like Boykins, Tabuse has to overcome the stigma of his size.

But Tabuse has shown in this camp, as he showed last year with the Suns, that he can push the ball rapidly, that he sees the court well, can deliver passes at the right time and that he can make open jump shots. Several times during scrimmages, Tabuse blew by the defense on fast-break layups, and no one came close to catching him.

“He’s been very solid,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. “He knows how to run a team. The biggest question is how effective can he be at his size. And we’ll see how he does in some of these (exhibition) games. He has a chance.”

Tabuse said he is looking forward to the exhibition games because he realizes they will be his best opportunity. Last season the Clippers kept three point guards. They have four in camp now – veteran Sam Cassell, second-year player Shaun Livingston, rookie second-round pick Daniel Ewing and Tabuse.

“I know I have to play well,” Tabuse said, “but it’s no pressure, just exciting. I know these will be very important games for me because Sam and Shaun have guaranteed contracts, and I don’t.”

First cuts

Dunleavy made his first roster cut after Tuesday’s final training-camp session at Santa Barbara City College. Waived were rookie free-agent forward Jan Jagla and fourth-year free-agent center Amal McCaskill.

The Clippers have 13 players with guaranteed contracts, and Dunleavy plans to open the season with 14. The competition will be fierce for the final spot among Tabuse, rookie free-agent center Boniface N’Dong, center Jared Reiner, who spent his rookie season last year with Chicago, and Fred Vinson, who has had two short NBA stints sandwiched between seasons in the CBA, ABA and Europe.